BROADCASTS.com

b'The night started just like any other night. A clear, star-lit sky. Sheep\\nsleeping in the field. The shepherds finishing their evening meal around\\nthe campfire. Quiet talk about families and the price of wool. But this was\\nno ordinary night.\\n.\\nAn angel of God coming to proclaim the coming of the Messiah, and the\\nheavenly host glorifying and praising God! The shepherds going to Bethlehem\\nto find the newborn Savior after the angels had left. The shepherds seeing\\nthe Messiah for the first time. This was no ordinary night.\\n.\\nHave you ever thought about what these shepherds talked about when they\\nleft Bethlehem to return to their sheep? While it\\u2019s true the Bible never\\ntells us about their conversation, it would be fun to speculate.\\n.\\nThey may have talked about the prophet Isaiah of long ago. How they\\nremembered his writings: \\u201cThe virgin will conceive a child! She will give\\nbirth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means \\u2018God is with us\\u2019)\\u201d\\n(Isaiah 7:14). And the prophet also said this child who is born this night\\nwill be called \\u201cMighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace\\u201d (9:6).\\n.\\nThe shepherds may have shared their amazement with each other\\u2014how they, the\\noutcasts of society, were to witness the fulfillment of prophecy. Prophecy\\nthat was first written 400 years ago, seen this very night. They may have\\ntalked about the angels singing praises to God, about the young mother, but\\nmostly about the child\\u2014the Messiah coming to Bethlehem. God sending His Son\\nas a baby, fully human, fully God. What a wonder, how amazing.\\n.\\nPerhaps these shepherds didn\\u2019t realize they had a part in history. God\\nintervening in human affairs quietly. Not in a big city, but in a small\\ntown. Not using government officials or religious leaders, but shepherds.\\nNot in broad daylight, but in the dead of night. Perhaps these shepherds\\ndidn\\u2019t realize they had a part in God\\u2019s history, or perhaps they did. \\u2022\\nDoug Velting\\n.\\n\\u2022 Read Luke 2:8-20 again, and then take a moment to imagine being one of\\nthe shepherds who experienced the events of that night\\u2026 What sticks out\\nto you the most? What fills you with awe and wonder? What questions do you\\nhave?\\n.\\nWhen the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other,\\n\\u201cLet\\u2019s go to Bethlehem! Let\\u2019s see this thing that has happened, which the\\nLord has told us about.\\u201d Luke 2:15 (NLT)\\n\\xa0\\nRead Verses:\\nLuke.2.8-Luke.2.20'